The High Priest Coresus Sacrificing Himself to Save Callirhoe
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The High Priest Coresus Sacrificing Himself to Save Callirhoe [1] is the title of three paintings by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
In 1765 Fragonard's Corésus et Callirhoé secured his admission to the French Academy. It was made the subject of a pompous (though not wholly serious) eulogy by Diderot, and was bought by the king, who had it reproduced at the Gobelins factory. Hitherto Fragonard had hesitated between religious, classic and other subjects; but now the demand of the wealthy art patrons of Louis XV's pleasure-loving and licentious court turned him definitely towards those scenes of love and voluptuousness with which his name will ever be associated, and which are only made acceptable by the tender beauty of his color and the virtuosity of his facile brushwork; such works include the Serment d'amour (Love Vow), Le Verrou (The Bolt), La Culbute (The Tumble), La Chemise enlevée (The Shirt Removed), and L'escarpolette (The Swing, Wallace Collection), and his decorations for the apartments of Mme du Barry and the dancer Madeleine Guimard.
Diderot:
- "Dans la caverne, vous n’avez vu que les simulacres des êtres, et Fragonard sur la toile ne vous en aurait montré non plus que les simulacres. C’est un beau rêve que vous avez fait, c’est un beau rêve qu’il a peint. Quand on perd son tableau de vue pour un moment, on craint toujours que sa toile ne se replie comme la vôtre, et que ces fantômes intéressants et sublimes ne se soient évanouis comme ceux de la nuit."
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